While planning our visit I knew I had one of two options; either divide the trip into two parts to experience each side of the lake or remain in one relatively central home base and explore from there. I decided we’d stay put in Varenna the entire trip in part because consistency is key when traveling with a young child but also because I couldn’t find an accommodation to compete with the apartment at Villa Monti, a guest house with about 5-7 apartments located in prime Varenna. Villa Monti just happened to have the absolute most stunning balcony in it’s superior apartment accommodation, which was a perfect place for us three to have breakfast each morning, swim with Parker and get around Varenna quite easily each morning and evening. Even the dinner reservation queen myself insisted on having dinner at home on our last night here to embrace the most beautiful sunset and it was truly magical!
Since we bopped around the Lake a good amount during our trip I don’t have the most solid recommendations but I will highlight some of the things I loved most from our stay.
What I loved in Varenna
The Charm!
Varenna, Italy is one of the three central towns along the shoreline of Lake Como, located right at the helm of the lake. It’s perhaps more bustling neighbors being Menaggio and Bellagio, both of which I would say seem bigger in many ways boasting grand hotels and sprawling piazzas.
Varenna, however, is extremely charming, quaint and feels quite small, which is exactly what I wanted for us in a home base! Whether you plan to stay there or just do a day trip my advice is to carve time out just for wandering around the cute little passageways, get lost in the colorful streets and aperitivo hop before gelato!
The Gardens at Hotel Villa Cipressi
This beautiful hotel is quite popular for weddings so be mindful of that when booking a garden tour reservation, as parts of the property might be off limits. Known primarily on social media for it’s gorgeous water taxi gates, we were still able to snag a photo despite the nuptials happening above us. Aside from just that, the grounds are stunning along the lake, however, not quite as magical as neighboring Villa Monastero, which we unfortunately didn’t have any time for during our stay.
Sunset Boat Ride
This was definitely a highlight for the trip and well worth the money, even if you don’t book at sunset (an hour before is fine too) it was a magical experience on the lake to share with Parker and Arthur. We brought delicious snacks from the nearby bakery and Parker was living la dolce vita while Arthur fed him salami topped focaccia and played Dua Lipa’s Dance the Night on repeat through the boats bluetooth system. I luckily had my colorful coupes from Milan and a delicious local brut Prosecco to savor as we swept the lake spotting all the glamorous villas from my coffee table books and speaking my old but sturdy Italian to the kind captain!
Local Coffee, Bakery and Butcher Shop
These three shops, located right next to one another and right on our way into town were probably the hit of the trip. We got our espressos, Parker’s pastries, the absolute best focaccia and salami snacks and all my accouterments for aperitivo hour from these three shops alone! All three were small, family run businesses with locals despite the high season of tourists and made my trip. On our last night in town we purchased fresh ravioli, sauce and meats for our dinner al fresco and sampled some local cheeses before sitting for our meal. We found basic grocieries and vegetables just across the piaza at the bottega and we were set. I literally could have lived here for months off these four little shops alone, it was everything I was looking for during our villeggiatura!Â
Ferry Rides
Menaggio, Cadenabbia and Bellagio are all accessible from Varenna as it is so centrally located and would all make great day trips without access to a car. Just keep in mind the ferries don’t run late past sunset and although you can purchase a ticket in advance there is no guarantee you will have spot on any given boat so make sure to be there at least 30 minutes in advance and closer to 45 minutes in advance if you plan to take your car. The ferry schedules can be extremely confusing so I recommend you directly consult the ticket office upon arrival to be sure, maybe even a few days in advance if possible!
Day Trips
We went to Cernobbio and Moltrasio, these towns near Como, which is an actual town on Lake Como located at the lefthand bottom of the wishbone, and are quite far from the central hub of Varenna, Bellagio and Menaggio, is more easily accessible by car. The ferry ports are great of you plan to stay in that town, but taxi’s and Ubers are hard to come by so if you want to explore the whole lake I recommend you rent a car. We had one from Milan for the entire trip and took the car ferry to cross from Varenna to Cadenabbia, which was a miracle given we were just in time after having planned to take the ferry to Menaggio which wasn’t running car ferries that day! As I mentioned previously, check with the ferry ticket office in advance or request assistance from your hotel’s concierge because it’s extremely confusing!
Restaurants
To be honest I wasn’t exactly blown away with any restaurants here, everything was just fine food wise and I could have lived off the little markets described above. I did love the spiaggina ride up to La Veranda dei Pescatori (they will pick you up and take you home) and the views and ambiance there were wonderful. I also loved my aperitivo at Hotel du Lac’s garden patio overlooking the lake and Arthur couldn’t get over the pizza at Alma, where I quite enjoyed my truffle pasta and the charming views of the lake.
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